After having completed the "taipei circle" on the bike (don't forget to check out the harrowing story from the past two days) i tried to think of what is next. I decided to go with perhaps the most famous bike route in the city is from the scenic riverside town at the north of the city, down to the scenic riverside town at the south of the city. they are on opposite ends of the same subway line and this particular trail is popular with weekend bikers who will rent a bike and then go as far as they can until the give up and take the subway back home.
Since I live near the south area, this would mean going all the way to the north part, and back. Which wouldn't be too bad as i found a different way to come back so that i would at least see new things.
This is what today's post really is about. a friend's friend said that she doesn't like to ride on the riverside because it's boring and nothing to see. to which i scoff because it actually has more to see than than riding in the city. not to mention the whole point of bike trail riding is never having to stop so you can be at a constant peddle speed the whole time.
There is a whole bunch to see, and parts are quite picturesque as you ride under overhanging trees. Today's ride had something very surprising, it had some goat petting zoos along the trail. However i must admit that i don't have many pictures as i never want to stop peddling.
There are also people doing some unique hobbies. I saw a group of people flying various remote control aircraft, but the coolest thing i've seen so far was this guy paragliding. One thing i've always wanted to do is go hang-gliding but there isn't any hang-gliding in Taiwan, so the next best thing is paragliding.
I'm a bit hesitant as Taiwan has the highest accident rate in the world from paragliding. This guy was really smart though, he was just on the field practicing controlling the parachute thing. He was twisting it around on purpose so he could practice having control even if something bad happens. The scary thing was that several times if the wind suddenly changed, than the parachute was just stop working and fall to the ground. Luckily he was just standing on the ground practicing, but if this happened in the air, he'd be dead.
So perhaps i'll hold off on paragliding until I've reached all my life goals.
